Bouncy Castle For Java LDAP injection vulnerability

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

5.3 · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N

EPSS

• CVE-2023-33201: 0.77% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 55.74 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

Bouncy Castle provides the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class which can be used in conjunction with the CertPath API for validating certificate paths. Pre-1.73 the implementation did not check the X.500 name of any certificate, subject, or issuer being passed in for LDAP wild cards, meaning the presence of a wild car may lead to Information Disclosure. A potential attack would be to generate a self-signed certificate with a subject name that contains special characters, e.g: CN=Subject)(objectclass=. This will be included into the filter and provides the attacker ability to specify additional attributes in the search query. This can be exploited as a blind LDAP injection: an attacker can enumerate valid attribute values using the boolean blind injection technique. The exploitation depends on the structure of the target LDAP directory, as well as what kind of errors are exposed to the user. Changes to the X509LDAPCertStoreSpi.java class add the additional checking of any X.500 name used…

Published by the source

5 Jul 2023, 03:30 UTC

Last modified by the source

4 Nov 2023, 05:03 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 16:16 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-33201

Advisory: Bouncy Castle For Java LDAP injection vulnerability
IDs: CVE-2023-33201, GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-33201 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 16:16 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.3)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Partial vendor fix; fixed versions by package: org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on 1.74; org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on 1.74. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14: affected >= 1.49, < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on: affected >= 1.49, <= 1.70
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14: affected >= 1.49, < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on: affected >= 1.49, <= 1.70
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14: affected >= 1.49, < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on: affected < 1.74; fixed in 1.74
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on: affected >= 1.49, <= 1.70

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on: check the installed version with your package manager.
- Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
No complete vendor fix is recorded. Follow the primary source's mitigation guidance and check this record again before closing anything.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk14, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15to18, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15to18, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk15to18, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk14, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk18on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-ext-jdk15on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk14, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-debug-jdk18on, org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk15on.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-hr8g-6v94-x4m9 lists affected ranges: Maven org.bouncycastle:bcprov-jdk18on >=0 =0 =0 =0 =0 =0 =1.49 =1.49 <1.74; Maven…)

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